Railroad Tracks Between Us
by wolfbytes99
Summary: Mila and Alex have been best friends for years... She's rich, he's poor. But Mila and Alex can't help but feel something a little closer... And it could break the boundaries between the rival neighborhoods forever. But forbidden love has its limits, so when will it reach them? Experience this heartwarming and heartbreaking tale of star crossed lovers from the other side...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**The Railroad Tracks**

Mila walked down the paths of her utterly perfect neighborhood, viewing the gardens and cobblestones that surrounded every household.

This was Amethyst Park... the richest estate in the county.

And Mila was one of those residents.

As a child, she never truly paid attention to the arrogance and ignorance of the people she neighbored, but she always wondered why Lily never visited her again after she turned 8 years old.

Mila hated it here, every single bit of it. The school, the church, the houses...

But mostly the people.

As she walked over to the creek that bordered Amethyst, twinkling in the noon sun, she gazed across the barren railroads that once passed between the two rival neighborhoods...

It seemed to cheesy for Mila... the whole rich side and poor side thing...

Birchwood was the "poor side." But it didn't seem like it to her...

Yeah, sure, it was much more dangerous than the stuck up land of Amethyst, but at least they had color.

And personality.

And fun.

Her parents weren't like some of the others in the park, much more open and flexible about Mila's friends.

Mila watched as the buildings went from towering skyscrapers, to the tiny ram shackled huts.  
She knocked on a particularly old house, draped in vines and old bricks chipping from time past in the essence of humanity...

But Mila loved every bit of it.

A young man opened the door, shirtless and holding a Coke in his hand.  
"What's up, butt face?" He laughed as let her in.

"What up scumbag?"

Mila hugged the boy as she looked in the cupboards of his tiny household.

Alex had been Mila's best friend for as long as she could remember... Since age five at the least.  
It was now their senior year in high school.

The two knew everything about each other, every phobia, every like and dislike...

They were quite the unorthodox team.

Mila groaned as she saw there wasn't any food around. "Ugh... great. No food. How have you guys been holding up lately?"

Alex sat down and started reading his book. "Eh... it's going okay I guess..."

But Mila could tell by his tone that he really wasn't.

She approached him and pushed her finger down onto the top of the book.

"I know you're not... come on, talk to me about it."

He looked at her sadly as they sat on the ripped up and moth eaten couch.

"Well... dad's been having a hard time with his job, with him being drunk all the time and all... and we haven't seen any sign of mom for awhile..."

Mila sighed as she held Alex's hand. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah... and because of it, I've had to use food stamps and go to the local food drive just to get some food on the table. It's no good, Mila."

But Mila was a kind person. "I understand, Alex... maybe not completely, but enough that maybe my family would be willing to help you."

"No." He said bluntly.

Mila felt taken aback, but breathed as she continued to soothe her friend.

"I'm sure they'd be happy to do it... you know them."

Alex smiled solemnly as he stared out into the sunlit outdoors.

"Mila, why do we have to be separated? Why do you think everybody hates each other?"

Mila thought for a moment, "Well, all I can really say is that... hate isn't just here, it's around the world. There's not a complete answer to why bad things always happen, but I can say there are also a lot of good things that happen in this world..."

With that, Mila felt Alex snuggle in and rest his head into her neck, making her feel fuzzy inside.

She loved the way he always smelt like smoke and gasoline, the way his brown hair stood up to any static reaction. She loved his rock hard abs, and his crystal blue eyes...

She wanted to tell him desperately, to tell him she liked him...

But if she did, would he like her back?  
She didn't want to ruin their friendship either.  
She breathed in the Autumn air as the sun hanged high in the sky, and she embraced it, lightly touching Alex's skin...

And dreaming of things all too real...


	2. The Other Side

**Chapter 2**

**The Other Side**

Mila walked back to her house, painted with white marble and pictureesque carvings and statues... To people, it was a castle...

But to her, it was prison.

She creeped in, hanging up her light jacket and trying to delicately walk up the noisy staircase...

"Where have you been?"

Mila cringed. She had been found out.

"Oh... just out for a stroll..."

Her mother slowly walked toward her. "You're lying."

Mila knew that voice, the voice she feared most.

She clenched her fists and braced for impact. "I was just with Alex..."

She suddenly stopped. "You know, Mila, you're not five years old anymore... at this point it's not appropriate to be with that boy..."

Mila glared at her stepmother. "You know very well that you shouldn't judge people just by reputation _mother_..."

Her stepmom stiffened at that moment.

"Yes, I know your grandparents had a rough past, but that needs to be dropped..."

She grabbed Mila by the chin, digging her fake nails into her fine pale skin.

"But we've had very different lives now haven't we?" She stopped as she saw Mila's father appear at the foot of the stairs.

"Mila! There you are!" He hugged his daughter tightly as he looked over to his second wife.

"Thank you for staying up to wait for her..."

He motioned Mila over to apologize.

"I'm sorry..." She grumbled.

"Manners, Mila..."

Hesitantly, she managed to stifle "Thank you SO much, Talia... I'm truly sorry for keeping you waiting..."

But Mila just stared on, without a word.

"Fair enough, now get to bed please..."

A tear rolled down her cheek as Mila slammed the door behind her, making a picture of her paternal mother fall to the ground...

Her mother was a kind woman, one of the few in this neighborhood...

She always made donations to Birchwood, went to and ran charities, and most of all loved Mila with all of her heart.

Mila was an only child, but her mother always made sure she never spoiled her to the point of ruin.

_Anger does not stifle conflict, my Mila..._

She would always say when she was angry or upset... she always had a way with words...

She loved her mother to the world and back, so much that she didn't even really count as a mom, but merely as a best friend...

But two years ago, in her sophomore year, her mother got a rare cancer...

She didn't last the month.

_Mila... please promise me that no matter what happens, you'll stay strong, kind, and to yourself okay? I may not be here on the outside, but if you need me, you'll find me in your heart..._

Her father was a good man, too, but the loss of his first wife took its toll...

And now he remarried an awful woman named Talia, who secretly would abuse her when her father's eyes were averted...

Tears smeared the photo of her mother, and all she could think about was the cell that kept her trapped...

And how she could find a way out.


	3. Whisky

**Chapter 3**

**Whisky**

Alex fell asleep on the couch, the black and white TV with only the main channels still glowing in the evening moonlight...

It was probably about midnight when he heard a noise in the kitchen.

He jumped awake, and grabbed the bat that he always kept next to him... in Birchwood, you never knew if you would wake up with a gun to your head or not.

But Alex breathed seeing it was only his older brother Tony and a boy from his gang, Chase.

Alex never liked Doc, and Doc didn't like him... without Tony to keep them in line he was sure they would wring each other's necks any day.

Tony and Chase were carrying a passed out man on their shoulders, smelling of whisky and brew.

"Dad got drunk again... would you be willing to let him have the couch, bro?"

Alex groaned and helped the two lay his father down.

He groaned a snore in his throat, foamy saliva dripped off his chin, and his hair looked like a cat slept in it for the day.

Alex hated his father... he never took care of them. His mother left them when Alex was just a baby, and Tony was three...

We were on our own then.

The people of Amethyst bordered the lower class suburb of Birchwood, and they never set foot in that neighborhood...

Except Alex.

Tony always taught Alex to be brave, and not to be afraid of risks.

He taught him to defend himself, to socialize and behave around those who weren't part of the gang.

Even though Alex wasn't apart of it, Tony was apart of one of the toughest yet peaceful gangs in the hood...

The Blackjacks.

They didn't attack as much as they defended themselves, but they were still undefeated.

Alex preferred to stay on the sidelines.

When Alex finally got the guts to dare cross the railroad tracks and the creek that surrounded Amethyst Park, he met someone that would completely change his perspective on life forever...

Mila.

He was only about five or six then, but when he saw her by the creek, with her copper brown hair in little pigtails and in her little fancy dress, he was smitten.

She wasn't supposed to be there either, but she was like Alex in that way... brave and stubborn.

They were completely different, otherwise, which is probably why they attracted so much...

And he fell in love with her.

Alex snapped back into focus, seeing Chase and Tony were staring at him...

"Dude, what's up?" He stared at them and sighed sadly.

"I'm going to bed..." He murmured, leaving his brother and friend among themselves.

He stared at the bracelet that Mila embroidered him when they first became "best friends:"

**M+A=BFFS FOREVER**

He desperately wanted to tell her how he felt... that he wanted to hold those soft hands forever, brush her beautiful curly brunette hair...

To kiss her lips.

But he knew it wasn't meant to be... it was already risky enough that they were friends...

Who knows what would happen if they dared try go out.

But he knew he couldn't play this game of charades forever...

Would she feel the same?


End file.
